Sunday, 15 June 2025

At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

Monday, 16 June 2025

Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
slight doubt on the suicide theory.

And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
goons.

But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
convalescing in bath chairs.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/




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On 17 Jun 2025 04:07:24 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:

In article <gmj15k9flfpblsan654v8geukcno0eumo8@4ax.com>,
Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:

Sunday, 15 June 2025

At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

Monday, 16 June 2025

Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
slight doubt on the suicide theory.

And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
goons.

But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
convalescing in bath chairs.

--

I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

I appear to have mislaid the book, and all I recall is that
it was discarded from a Vermont library back when they had a
pocket in back for the card, this one a diagonal strip of
cardboard; it still has the sheet to stamp the due date on.

I think the copyright was 1933.

If it turns up when I declutter the house to get Dave back
from the place where I read it, I'll comment on the
simple-substitution cipher that experts said was
unbreakable. I don't think that "day of the week backward"
could possibly work -- less than half of the letters would
be changed.

Probably two weeks before I can check in again.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/




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On 17/06/2025 05:07, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <gmj15k9flfpblsan654v8geukcno0eumo8@4ax.com>,
Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:

Sunday, 15 June 2025

At times I think I may have read this book as a teenager.

The decision to go to Farthington instead of telephoning was
all doylist, with no watsonian explanation. Also, a
concussion that keeps one (or two) out of action for days is
not as trivial as I expect it to turn out to be.

Monday, 16 June 2025

Mr. McNeil goes out of his way to portray Bulldog as not too
swift in the head, but you'd think that at least one of the
gang would suspect that "died in agony" would cast some
slight doubt on the suicide theory.

And yes, Bulldog woke up, leaped out of bed, and beat up six
goons.

But he did portray, in the coda, the two concussed patients
convalescing in bath chairs.

--

I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

I've got <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Drummond_Strikes_Back_%281947_film%29> (1947) said to be "loosely based on the
H. C. McNeile ['Sapper'] novel _Knock-Out_" (1932).
Appropriate title.

Each work has a "stub" Wikipedia article, i.e.
not comprehensive. For instance, no plot
information is included. But there are
external links.

I speculate that _Knock-Out_ has an American
book edition with the other title, either around
1932 or 1947 or in-between.

I might be pressed to reproduce remarks in
Dorothy L. Sayers's _Murder Must Advertise_ (1933)
- if I've actually got a copy - about the robust
constitution of thriller heroes, specifically
Sexton Blake - Sayers had enjoyed Blake's
adventures much earlier, and there are reports
that her detective Lord Peter Wimsey first
occurred in a Sexton Blake story that she wrote
by and possibly for herself. I don't think this
is canon. In _Murder Must Advertise_,
Lord Peter recruits an assistant who also is
a Blake fan, and who lends Lord Peter one of
these thrilling novels.


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On 17 Jun 2025 04:07:24 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:

I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the 1934 film?
I don't see a McNeil book by that title.

The book was also a little thin; I envisioned the publisher
saying "Herman, baby, they'll buy *anything* with Bulldog in
the title, so crank something out." The gang had a dramatic
scene, but were scarcely name-checked, as if thrown in
because they were part of the Bulldog mythos. And despite
their ample numbers, they didn't search the mansion after
rescuing Bulldog from the squash court.

Wikipedia says that Bulldog married in the very first
adventure, and I distinctly remember Peterson playing
treasure hunt with a kidnapped wife when I read the books at
the Colfax library in the fifties. In this book there isn't
the slightest hint that Bulldog has ever even considered
matrimony; it sounds more like one of the movie adaptations.

Surely Grosset & Dunlap were above commissioning a rip-off
and passing it off as the work of H.C. McNeil.

I can't read your replies until I figure out how to stop
marking everything read when I download, and there's a *lot*
of more-important backlog. Tomorrow I hope to run a load of
wash -- I'm completely out of non-heavy socks.

But I've finally caught up on sleep; I woke up for my usual
anti-nap tonight.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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On Sat, 21 Jun 2025 11:40:00 +0100, Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:

I've got <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Drummond_Strikes_Back_%281947_film%29> (1947) said to be "loosely based on the
H. C. McNeile ['Sapper'] novel _Knock-Out_" (1932).
Appropriate title.

The end papers did consist entirely of film scenes.

I'm not back, I decided that I'd never get time to read
those other threads.
https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/writing-time/

I did get a nap today, but not full-length and I'm still
tired from yesterday. But I can lie down while visiting. It
worked to get me safe to drive home yesterday, when I'd had
a V-8 instead of a nap.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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I think the film _Bulldog Drummond Escapes_ (1937),
which we hadn't menuptioned, essentially is a reboot
in that medium, and it introduces Drummond to his
fiancee, Phylis Clavering.

Wikipedia thinks that _Bulldog Jack_ /
_Alias Bulldog Drummond_ (1935) does belong with the
films immediately following, but that is deacribed
as a comedy in which Drummond is injured and hires
Jack Pennington to take his place fighting bad guys.

Anyway, I think that many later films during 1937-1939
/all/ had Drummond about to marry Ms Clavering at
the start, but then Scotland Yard called or
Ms Clavering was kidnapped or Drummond was kidnapped
and it prevents the ceremony from occurring.
It's a deliberate comedy element.


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Friday, 27 June 2025

I have just finished Poul Anderson's _Agent of the Terran
Empire_, which replaced Bulldog in my go bag. I think the
two are the same sub-sub genre, save that Bulldog doesn't
know that his empire is doomed (And no Long Night ensued,
albeit Vai Victus, as always, has been abundant.) (Vae
Victor hasn't been all that rare.)

And that Flandry studiously avoids long-term relationships.

_The Book of Ash_ is next in line. It's too thick for the
usual pocket of my go bag (I have left-over space in the
main compartment, having stopped carrying a light jacket),
and I suspect that nothing by Mary Gentle will be
appropriate distraction, but there aren't a lot of unread
books in the house. I don't think Ethics for Nurses (1916)
could hold my attention long at a time.

But I get Dave back this coming Wednesday. Then I can read
Usenet while he reads Analog and Hitchcock.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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